If you just want to get your photos in-hand and aren’t particularly interested in being involved with the developing process, or in playing with various darkroom techniques, it’s easy and relatively quick and affordable just to get your pictures printed by a lab.

As digital photography has become the norm, fewer chain and local labs are developing film in-house. In smaller cities, especially, you may find that black-and-white and even color film may be sent out to faraway labs. It can take weeks to get black-and-white negatives and prints back – yet another reason you might want to entertain the idea of a home darkroom.

When choosing a lab, consider who will be handing your film. Will it stay local or be sent out? Does an experienced lab technician view each photo before printing, offering expertise and adjustments? (You can often tell the lab not to “correct” anything when developing negatives or making prints.) Or is the film run through a machine that “autocorrects” it or does nothing at all? It really depends on your budget and what you’d like to see in your prints. Many professionals and hobbyists are perfectly happy with the Costco photo lab, or a mall-based lab such as Ritz Camera. Other choices include drugstores such as Rite-Aid, Longs, Walgreens, and CVS and big-box retailers like Wal-Mart and Target. There are still locally owned photo labs that offer printing services as well, many of them staffed by photographers who care about quality and getting your images the way you envisioned them.

Yet another option is to send your digital images to be printed via an online service such as Shutterfly, Snapfish, Kodak Gallery, etc. Some of these companies will print from negatives as well, and do enlargements. For example, Shutterfly charges $3.99 per roll (plus shipping) to process 35mm film in a Kodak laboratory, scan the film and post the images online, and return the negatives to you.